‘Whites behind S.A. attack’

Press, 17 March 1982, Page 8

‘Whites behind S.A. attack’

NZPA Johannesburg The "Rand Daily Mail” has identified five. Europeans it said were behind a rocket attack last August on a.South African military base near Pretoria claimed by the outlawed African National Congress.

Nicholas Heath, aged 33, Bonnie Lou Muller, aged 27, and David Hedges, aged 37,' all British citizens, planned the attack on the Voortekkerhoogte base together with a Belgian, Guido van Hecken, and a Canadian, Edward Wethli, the paper said. The attack, using powerful Soviet-made 122 mm rockets, was generally agreed to be one of the most audacious of its type ever in South Africa. The ’ “Rand Daily Mail” said the five drew up their attack plan in a luxury villa on the outskirts of Pretoria; The South African Government. has protested to the British and Belgian authorities over the involvement of their nationals, a reliable source said, but the British " and Belgian embassies havedeclined to confirm or comment. \ ' The .South African English--language .press has also reported that Pretoria had demanded the extradition of the British citizens, although no extradition treaty exists between Britain and South Africa. Meanwhile, in Pietermaritzburg, journalists and the public were ordered out of the court hearing the case against 43 mercenaries charged with hijacking an Air India airliner to South Africa yesterday after the prosecution asked for certain evidence to be heard in .camera. \.. .On Friday the Natal Province Supreme Court heard evidence that one of the a Briton, Peter. Duffy,' had said seven or eight South African Government members were involved in a coup attempt on the Indian Ocean republic of the Seychelles. The prosecution alleges the men, led by “Mad Mike” Hoare, hijacked the airliner from Mahe Airport in the Seychelles to Durban after the coup attempt had failed. All the men have pleaded not guilty to the charges, which carry sentences of between five and 30 years jail. After a 90-minute adjournment at the start of yesterday’s proceedings, the Natal Attorney-General (Mr Cecil Rees), who is leading the prosecution, said he felt it was in the interests of justice “that these matters be heard in camera.” In Cape Town, 10 more members of the South African Parliament w’ere expelled from the ruling National Party yester day because of their refusal to back the Prime Minister’s policy of giving greater political power to non-whites. The expulsions occurred after the breakaway by a Right-winger, Andries Treurnicht, the former State Administration Minister who ..challenged the Prime Minister over the power-sharing proposals.